Convicted rapist’s death at Maine State Prison ruled suicide

3-10-16 Maine:

The Office of the State Medical Examiner recently determined Donald Riley, 67, hung himself Feb. 11.

A Waterville man who died at the Maine State Prison last month committed suicide by hanging, the state medical examiner has determined.

Donald Riley, 67, who used the middle names Edwin and Edward, died at 2:15 p.m. Feb. 11 at the prison in Warren, according to the Maine Department of Corrections.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Office of the State Medical Examiner, which performed an autopsy, provided the manner and cause of Riley’s death.

Lawsuit: New Orleans deputies called suicidal inmate ‘rapist and pedophile,’ left him alone for hours before jailhouse hanging

This post covers suicide of "Ryan Miller." The Other suicide mentioned is posted elsewhere.

2-13-2016 Louisiana:

A young man who hanged himself last year at Orleans Parish Prison had been called a “rapist and pedophile” by a ranking deputy at the jail and was left unsupervised for hours even after warning guards that he felt suicidal, a new lawsuit claims.

The wrongful-death suit, filed this week in U.S. District Court, claims deputies deprived Ryan Miller, 24, of Harvey, of mental health care at the lockup and gave him ample means to harm himself by leaving him unattended in an attorney visitation booth.

Miller, jailed last year on aggravated rape charges, was found dead shortly before midnight on March 23, nearly four hours after he told guards at the jail’s Templeman V building that he intended to harm himself.

Authorities have said Miller died of asphyxiation after wrapping a telephone cord around his neck.

The lawsuit describes Miller’s death as “a disturbing and completely avoidable” chapter in a long history of in-custody deaths at OPP, the decades-old jail that Sheriff Marlin Gusman closed last year when he opened the $150 million Orleans Justice Center. The lawsuit says at least 45 inmates have died in Sheriff’s Office custody since April 2006.

Man imprisoned for brutal home invasion, sexual assault found dead

2-13-2016 Wisconsin:

A Milwaukee man imprisoned for a terrorizing home invasion and sexual assault on the city's south side was found hanging in a cell at the Columbia Correctional Institution, authorities said Friday.

Prison staff brought down and unsuccessfully attempted to revive Julio Quiles-Guzman, 25, when he was found about 5 a.m., Thursday, according to a news release from the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

Initial results of an autopsy Friday indicate Quiles-Guzman committed suicide, according to the release.

In January, 2014 Quiles-Guzman was convicted of first-degree sexual assault/use of a dangerous weapon and robbery with the of threat of force for the June, 2013 home invasion on S. Muskego Ave., according to court records and a criminal complaint.

He was sentenced to 42 years in prison and 18 years of extended supervision, according to the records.

According to the complaint, he and two other men forced their way into a couple's home and bound them at gunpoint in front of their 4-year-old son.

Convicted sex offender dies in Alabama prison suicide

6-20-16 Alabama:

An inmate convicted of first-degree sodomy in Madison County died after a suspected suicide at the St. Clair Correctional Facility, officials said.

Correctional officers found Brian Tyrell Smith, 39, hanging from a bed sheet in his one-person segregation cell during a routine security check at 8:40 p.m. Friday. Medical staff arrived to revive the inmate, but he was pronounced dead at 8:50 p.m.

Smith was serving a 30-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2000.

The Alabama Department of Corrections is investigating the death. ..Source.. by Jonece Starr Dunigan

Prison death of Johnson County sex offender is ruled a suicide

7-6-16 Kansas:

The death of a convicted Johnson County sex offender at the Lansing Correctional Center in March has been ruled a suicide.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said Wednesday that there was no evidence of criminal activity in the March 14 death of Steven Paul Bradford.

There was also no evidence that anyone conspired to have Bradford hang himself, Thompson said.

Thompson made the announcement after reviewing a report by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Bradford, 23, was serving a sentence of seven years and four months after he pleaded no contest to having sex with an 11-year-old girl in 2013. ..Source.. by Tony Rizzo

Suicide suspected in death of Worcester child-killer

5-24-2014 Massachusetts:

A Worcester man convicted of beating to death his 7-year-old son on Father’s Day in 2009 died yesterday — the third suspected suicide of a Bay State prisoner in less than three months.

Leslie Schuler, 41, was pronounced dead at 5:50 a.m. at Norwood Hospital — about 90 minutes after he was found hanging in his cell at MCI Cedar Junction in Walpole, according to the 
Department of Correction. ..Source.. by Erin Smith

Southern Nevada inmate dies in cell at High Desert

8-11-15 Nevada:

A 44-year-old prisoner serving time in Southern Nevada died on Sunday, according to the Nevada Department of Corrections.

Larry Royal, committed from Clark County on June 19, died in his single cell at High Desert State Prison, the department of corrections said. His cause of death will be released by the Clark County coroner's office.

Royal was serving two consecutive sentences of 96 to 240 months each for attempted sexual assault and attempted lewdness with a minor. ..Source.. by Ricardo Torres

Convicted rapist Danny Cromeans found dead in prison cell at state's Supermax Unit

11-11-2014 Arkansas:

An inmate with a long criminal history in Columbia and Lafayette counties was found dead in his prison cell on Tuesday morning.

Danny Cromeans, 38, who was serving a life sentence for rape, used a bed sheet to hang himself in a single-man cell at the Supermax Unit of the Arkansas Department of Correction in Varner, spokeswoman Dina Tyler said.

Tyler said that Cromeans was last seen alive about 3 a.m. He was found dead at 6:08 a.m. Cromeans was being held at the Supermax unit due to disciplinary problems, Tyler said.

The Arkansas State Police will investigate Cromeans’ death, which is standard procedure in such cases.

Cromeans was sentenced July 19, 2002 by Lafayette County Circuit Court to life in prison for rape, and to an additional 240 months on a related kidnapping count.

In January 1996, Cromeans was sentenced by Columbia County Circuit Court to 10 years in prison on separate counts of residential burglary and criminal mischief first degree.

Inmate suicide reported at MANCI

10-29-2014 Ohio:

MANSFIELD – The investigation into the apparent suicide of Mansfield Correctional Institution inmate Evan A. Donoho is still active, according to JoEllen Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The Findlay man, imprisoned for killing his wife three years ago, died Oct. 21.

Donoho, 29, was pronounced dead Oct. 21 at OhioHealth MedCentral Mansfield Hospital. His body was taken to the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office, according to Richland County Coroner’s Office investigator Tom Stortz.

Donoho was a U.S. Army veteran who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was not eligible for parole until 2040, according to news reports.

In 2012 Hancock County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Niemeyer sentenced Donoho to at least 29 years in prison for killing his 29-year-old wife in their home, leaving her body in a field south of Findlay, getting rid of the hammer he used in the murder and for the incident in which he downloaded child pornography, according to The Toledo Blade. The judge sentenced him to 15 years to life for the murder, then ordered he serve the maximum prison terms on the other charges consecutively. ..Source.. by Lou Whitmire

State must do more to prevent prison suicides

All suicides mentioned occurred in DECEMBER a bad time for inmates.

1-6-2009 Michigan:

A new administrator charged with improving Michigan's dysfunctional prison health care system has a lot on her plate in 2009, but looking into prison suicides must become an immediate priority.

Three state prisoners committed suicide within one week during late December -- as many as committed suicide in all of 2007. The Michigan Department of Corrections must ensure that prison staff are trained to spot signs of dangerous depression and know when to make appropriate referrals to mental health professionals. Ensuring such training and competence falls squarely on the department's health care quality assurance administrator -- a new position that reports directly to MDOC Director Patricia Caruso.

An estimated one in four of Michigan's nearly 50,000 inmates is mentally ill, increasing the risks of suicide. Those risks naturally increase during periods of stress, including the holidays, parole denials, initial incarceration, or following a return to prison.

SLED: Charleston County inmate charged with assisted suicide in another inmate's death

5-8-2014 South Carolina:

State agents are investigating the strangling death of an inmate in what sheriff's deputies said is the Cannon Detention Center's first reported case of assisted suicide at the jail.

Matthew Lee Glidden, 29, of Ladson was found dead in his cell around 6:45 a.m. March 24 while officers prepared the other inmates in his unit for breakfast, investigators said.

The State Law Enforcement Division announced on Thursday that Glidden had been strangled at the hand of fellow inmate, 30-year-old Michael Robert Bixby. Agents charged Bixby with assisted suicide, according to SLED spokesman Thom Berry. He could face up to 15 years in prison or a $100,000 fine if convicted on the felony charge, Berry said.

An arrest affidavit stated Bixby confessed to investigators that he helped Glidden die.

Berry would not elaborate on how investigators confirmed that Glidden had been suicidal.

Neo-Nazi Rapist, Murderer Keith Luke Found Dead In Apparent Suicide

5-16-2014 Massachusetts:

A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi convicted of killing two and raping a woman was pronounced dead Monday from an apparent suicide.

Massachusetts man Keith Luke, 28, was sentenced in May of last year after confessing to his 2009 crimes, telling investigators that he raped a woman because he didn't want to be a virgin anymore after being turned down "100,000 [expletive] times,” and also wanted to kill non-whites, The Enterprise reported.

On Jan. 21, 2009, Luke knocked on the door of an unidentified woman in Brockton, Massachusetts. When she answered, he pointed a gun at her head, walked inside the residence, and handcuffed her. Luke later admitted to investigators to raping and sodomizing the woman.

When the woman's sister, 20-year-old Selma Goncalves, walked into the home and saw the sexual assault taking place, she attempted to run and find help, according to The Boston Herald.

“I knew she was going to make a huge scene, so I said [expletive] it, and I shot her three times,” Luke told police. Goncalves was killed in the attack.

The murderer-rapist then shot at the woman he had just raped before returning to his car to reload his weapon. The rape victim managed to survive the shootings.

Kentucky inmate starves himself to death; doctor fired, hunger strike rules rewritten

4-22-2014 Kentucky:

A prison doctor has been fired and two other staffers are in the midst of being dismissed after an inmate at the Kentucky State Penitentiary starved himself to death, a case that has exposed lapses in medical treatment and in how hunger strikes are handled at the facility. Prison officials have asked prosecutors to investigate after The Associated Press began asking questions about the inmate’s death.

James Kenneth Embry, 57 and with just three years left on a nine-year sentence for drug offences, began to spiral out of control in the spring of 2013 after he stopped taking anti-anxiety medication. Seven months later, in December, after weeks of erratic behaviour — from telling prison staff he felt anxious and paranoid to banging his head on his cell door — Embry eventually refused most of his meals. By the time of his death in January of this year, he had shed more than 30 pounds on his 6-foot frame and died weighing just 138 pounds, according to documents reviewed by the AP.

An internal investigation determined that medical personnel failed to provide him medication that may have kept his suicidal thoughts at bay and didn’t take steps to check on him as his condition worsened. The internal review of Embry’s death also exposed broader problems involving the treatment of inmates — including a failure to regularly check inmates on medical rounds and communication lapses among medical staff.

The AP, tipped off to Embry’s death, obtained scores of documents under Kentucky’s Open Records Act, including a report detailing the investigation into Embry’s death, an autopsy report and personnel files. Along with interviews with corrections officials and correspondence with inmates, the documents describe Embry’s increasingly paranoid behaviour until his death and the numerous opportunities for various prison staff to have intervened.

New York man convicted in child pornography case dies after being found unresponsive in prison cell

5-5-2014 Arizona:

TUCSON, Arizona — A New York state man sentenced to 37 years in prison in a child pornography case has died after being found unresponsive in his prison cell in Arizona.

The federal Bureau of Prisons says an autopsy will determine the cause of death of Benet Schmidt of Cohoes, New York, who died Sunday, a day after he was found unresponsive at the federal prison in Tucson.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Shreveport, Louisiana, Schmidt pleaded guilty in April 2012 to engaging in a child-exploitation enterprise.

The office says dozens of people were convicted in the case stemming from an online child-porn bulletin board known as Dreamboard. ..Source.. by The Republic

Sex offender found dead at Florence prison

12-15-2008 Arizona:

A convicted child sex offender has been found dead at the state prison in Florence.

The Arizona Department of Corrections issued a statement Monday saying that Matthew Goodwin, 36, was found Friday hanging from a shower in the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman's Cook Unit.

ADOC said an investigation was continuing and that an autopsy would be conducted.

ADOC said Goodwin had been in prison since Jan. 19, 2007, after being sentenced in Pima County to nearly 77 years for sexual exploitation of a minor and aggravated assault. ..Source.. by KTAR.com

Soldier turned rapist found dead in prison: Officials suspect suicide

2-18-2014 Kentucky:

Steven Dale Green, an Army private convicted of gang-raping an Iraqi 14-year-old girl and killing her family, died in an Arizona prison in what officials suspect was a suicide.

A former soldier, sentenced to life for raping and killing a teenage Iraqi girl and using a shotgun to gun down her family, died in an Arizona prison over the weekend in what officials suspect was a suicide.

Steven Dale Green was the first American soldier charged and convicted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act — a law signed in 2000 that gives the federal government jurisdiction to pursue criminal cases against American citizens and soldiers for acts committed in foreign lands.

The federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman John Stahley said staff members at the federal penitentiary in Tucson, Ariz., found the 28-year-old Green, of Midland, Texas, unresponsive in his cell on Saturday. Stahley said Green's death is being investigated as a suicide.

Another Ohio prison inmate James Blackburn commits suicide after Ariel Castro, Billy Slagle

9-11-2013 Ohio:

The state says a prison inmate has committed suicide, the third case of an Ohio prisoner killing himself in two months.

The State Highway Patrol says the inmate was found hanging in his cell at Lebanon Correctional Institution early Tuesday by his cell mate.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction identified the inmate Wednesday as James Blackburn of Trumbull County.

Records show the 31-year-old Blackburn entered prison in 2006 and was serving a 21-year sentence for a rape conviction.

Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro committed suicide last week as he began a life sentence for imprisoning three women in his home for a decade and repeatedly beating and raping them.

Death row inmate Billy Slagle killed himself last month just a few days before his scheduled execution. ..Source.. by NewsNet5.com

Ohio man who held 3 women captive commits suicide

9-4-2013 Ohio:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The man who held three women captive in his home for nearly a decade before one escaped and alerted authorities has been found dead and is believed to have committed suicide, a prison official said.

Ariel Castro, 53, was found hanging in his cell around 9:20 p.m. Tuesday at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, located south of Columbus in central Ohio, JoEllen Smith, Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman, said early Wednesday.

Prison medical staff performed CPR before Castro was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10:50 p.m.

He was in protective custody because of the notoriety of his case, meaning he was checked every 30 minutes, but was not on suicide watch, Smith said. She said suicide watch entails constant observation.

Castro was also watched closely in Cuyahoga County Jail in the several weeks after his arrest and before his case was resolved by a guilty plea, with logs noting his activity every 10 minutes. He was taken off county jail suicide watch in early June after authorities determined he was not a suicide risk.

FBI says Alaska man killed for fun

12-7-2012 Alaska:

Investigators who spent hours interviewing an Alaska serial killer say he may have murdered close to a dozen people, and that he killed for pleasure and was only conflicted about how his notoriety would affect his loved ones.

Israel Keyes (34) confessed to killing eight people across the country before he committed suicide last weekend in an Anchorage jail, but FBI and Anchorage police investigators said Friday they think he may have had up to three additional victims.

"Based on some of the things he told us, and some of the conversations we had with him, we believe the number is less than 12," FBI Special Agent Jolene Goeden said. "We don't know for sure. He's the only one who could have ultimately answered that."

Keyes slit his wrist and strangled himself with bedding Sunday at the Anchorage Correctional Facility. He was facing federal murder charges in the kidnapping and death of an 18-year-old Samantha Koenig, who was abducted from an Anchorage coffee stand Feb. 1.

Goeden and Anchorage Police officer Jeff Bell conducted up to 40 hours of interviews with Keyes after his March arrest in Texas. During that time, Keyes confessed to killing Koenig, along with Bill and Lorraine Currier in Vermont, and five other people — although details for those victims were scarce.

The interviews also revealed Keyes' motivation, which was simple, Goeden and Bell told The Associated Press.

"He enjoyed it. He liked what he was doing," Goeden said. "He talked about getting a rush out of it, the adrenalin, the excitement out of it."

Convicted sex offender commits suicide in prison

10-29-2012 Pennsylvania:

A former Bensalem man serving 10 years in state prison for two sexual assaults was found hanging in his cell earlier this week.

Marvin Landaverry, 53, whose last address was Arrowhead Drive, was found unresponsive about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, less than one month after he arrived at the State Correctional Institute at Graterford in Montgomery County, according to prison spokeswoman Wendy Shaylor.

County Coroner Dr. Walter Hofman performed an autopsy Thursday morning and ruled Landaverry’s death a suicide; he asphyxiated as a result of hanging.

As per policy, the prison staff and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the death, but no further details, including what Landaverry used to hang himself, were released. Hofman said additional tests are being performed and results should be available in six weeks.

Landaverry pleaded guilty in June to charges of sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault on a person under age 13, aggravated indecent assault on a person under age 16 and related offenses involving two crimes that date to 2007 and 2011, according to court records. He had been at Graterford since Sept. 24, shortly after a Bucks County judge sentenced him to a minimum 10 years in prison for the two cases.

Bristol Township police initially charged Landaverry in January with indecent assault of a girl in 2007. In April, Bristol Township arraigned him on new charges of sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault involving an adult woman.

The woman reported to police in January that she had been sexually assaulted by Landaverry at his Croydon home and various worksites between March and July 2011, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

The woman said she lives in “fear and terror” almost daily because of the attacks, according to the court documents.

After the woman moved, the attacks stopped, according to the documents. But the woman told police the suspect showed up unannounced at a family gathering during the holidays at her new home.

What the woman didn’t know is that another girl had already reported to police similar sexual assault allegations that occurred in 2007, according to the affidavit. Bucks County detectives had investigated those claims and Landaverry admitted to sexually assaulting the girl, according to the affidavit.

The methods Landaverry used to assault the girl were similar to those alleged by the woman, according to the affidavit. ..Source.. by Jo Ciavaglia Staff write